


Things Hoped For

by holtz_gives_no_flux



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Reylo - Freeform, graphic depictions of the force, idek my dudes, its not really as angsty as the description, leia being a world class mom to all her adopted children but especially rey, rey and kylo doin their weird twin thing, the muthafuckin Force
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2019-02-22 21:16:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13175373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/holtz_gives_no_flux/pseuds/holtz_gives_no_flux
Summary: Rey felt his presence before she saw him. She felt his energy on her, and his eyes, before she looked up from what she was doing. She knew exactly what he felt like. LIke boiling silver; starting in her spine and being pumped with the beat of her heart up into her head, filling every corner of her skull and laying everything bare.After what's left of the Resistance is safe, Kylo visits Rey on the Falcon.





	Things Hoped For

**Author's Note:**

> yooooo so ive never written anything for star wars before but i thought the dynamic between rey and kylo was really interesting and i wanted to explore it. Im thinking of writing every chapter from both perspectives, you know, if you guys actually like this shit. anyway, lemme know what you think.  
> love ya.

Rey and Chewbacca had just left what was left of the Resistance under the care of General Organa, and Rey was currently walking through an empty Falcon, making last checks before she buttoned it up and turned in for the night, exhausted for the effort of the battles of the past few days, but still full of hope. The hope found its place next to the sadness and pain of the people she had lost and the family she was no closer to knowing, not to mention the First Order hunting for them across the galaxy, but she took comfort in the small things; the Falcon was in good repair, the planet they had landed on seemed habitable, Finn was safe, Leia was a little worse for the wear, having lost her husband and her brother over the course of a year, not to mention friends, mentors, and people under her charge, but she handled it with a quiet grace and strength that Rey could only hope to have someday. And in the midst of all her loss, Leia still wanted to have Rey in for dinner. If Rey was up for it, she must be exhausted! And, of course, if she wasn't completely bored by the thought of humoring an old lady with a good chat, Leia had said.

Rey was curious about why the general felt the need to have dinner only for a moment, before Leia took her hand and looked into her eyes and sighed. "I do worry, you know." She said, patting Rey's hand and dropping it again. Rey smiled shyly. She knew Leia could feel the anxiety and sadness and conflict inside her just as keenly as any jedi, and Rey felt a little exposed. Rey remebered it now, as she wiped down the Falcon's chess table, and smiled. Unlike the jedi, Leia was not scared of the feelings inside Rey, she recognized them as symptoms of being human.

Rey was very fond of Leia; the General, the Princess, the part time Jedi, the Mother, the only woman that made Han Solo weak in the knees (or else very uncomfortable, depending on her mood). She was slowly but surely learning that the sense the force gives you in the presence of a person was a good indicator of the broader strokes of their character. When Leia looked at her, for instance, it felt like warm water filling up her chest and running down her arms. She radiated empathy and control, and though she used the force to tell what Rey was feeling, she had never dipped a toe in Rey's memories.

Luke was light that couldn't be hidden. The brilliance of the last Jedi, the savior of Darth Vader, the defender of the Republic. At times Luke was prideful and blinding, but he illuminated the darkest parts of a person, allowing them to see what they themselves had missed. Luke cast a light where there was once nothing but shadow, in other people, and in the galaxy.

Han's presence was golden like C-3P0, reflecting the light of his best friend, absorbing the warmth of his wife, but with a value all his own. His son had maintained his reflective quality, but Kylo was something else entirely.

Rey felt his presence before she saw him. She felt his energy on her, and his eyes, before she looked up from what she was doing. She knew exactly what he felt like. Like boiling silver; starting in her spine and being pumped with the beat of her heart up into her head, filling every corner of her skull and laying everything bare. There was heat from his mother, but no control; instead of warm and comforting he was burning and dangerous. There was reflection from his father, but instead of redirecting the qualities of others, there was only a distorted vision of himself, like the image on the back of a spoon. 

"That wasn't very nice." He said, and Rey finally looked up to where she could see him, standing in front of her across the table, his image superimposed over the Falcon like a lifesized hologram, only much clearer. Clearer than she had ever seen him before.  
"What wasn't?"  
"Stealing away the Resistance like that. I don't want to chase you all over the galaxy, Rey, but I will."  
"No you won't." Rey said indignant. "You'll never find us. But when we're ready, we'll chase you."  
Kylo just smiled.

They were silent for a moment and Rey could feel him looking around inside her head. She could stop him, if she wanted. She could force him out of her mind, but she wanted to learn how he did it so easily; just walking into a mind and taking what he wanted. As he did so she got glimpses into his mind as well, like pieces of him were rubbing off as he walked among her memories.

 _"_ _They were nothing! Your parents were nothing!"_ he had said. That was the moment she knew he didn't know anything. Kylo Ren knew her greatest fear was not that she wouldn't find her parents, but that her parents weren't looking for her. That they had died classless deaths and had never looked back after leaving her on Jakku. Kylo knew it so well that in his moment of deperation he had tried to prey on her fear, but in doing so had played his hand. He knew nothing.

It still hurt, though, she thought, because even though he was bluffing, the words he had said still could have been the truth. The words he had used to try to humiliate her had still grazed their mark because she was still no closer to any answers, but it was clear who Kylo thought she was - nobody.

Suddenly there was a flash of emotion across Kylo's face. Strong, but indistinct, Rey wondered what it could be. She didn't have to wait long.

"You've been talking to my mother." He stated carefully. "She... she's having you over for dinner."  
They're eyes met, and Rey saw the inside of his mind, clear as day.

_Fear. Betrayal. Sadness. Longing. Regret. Fear. Love._

Kylo dropped his guard for only a second, but Rey felt it all. She felt it so strongly it almost knocked the wind out of her. For a moment Kylo Ren wasn't Kylo Ren, he was Ben Solo, who had been gone from home for far too long, who missed his mother and wanted to return to where he belonged. Ben wanted to return home so badly that he dared  _hope_  for it. 

"Yes, she is." Rey said, unsure of how to continue the conversation.  
"Well I'm sure you two will find something interesting to talk about." He said, almost dissmissively.

"I just wanted to tell you that I'm not giving up." He took a step forward and Rey was aware of his presence in her space. She was captured by his dark eyes looking into hers.  
"I'm not giving up on you. I'll chase you across a thousand galaxies if I have to, Rey, but you and I are going to meet again." 

He turned around in a flash of dark robes and was gone. The sounds of the Falcon came back and she was back in the present.

She sat down at the table and pulled the rag through her hands. 

_I'm not giving up on you._

It was something between a threat and a promise, but it made her feel something that she wasn't used to feeling - it made her feel _important_. She was being fought over. It made her feel like she meant something not just to the Resistance, but to the universe. And maybe even to Kylo. The bond they shared was nothing if not unique, and no matter how hard she fought it, she couldn't shake the impression that he was right. She could run, but the Force would always bring them back together. The though of it bordered on comforting. Allegiances would come and go, but they were bound together through it all. 

Maybe after all this was over, he really could go home. The thought made her happy. Leia really did miss him even after all this time, even when she knew all the terrible things he had done. She hoped for her sake, if not his, that he could be turned from the dark side, and that the plan forming in her head would work, at least to keep him from destroying the galaxy; because she had seen something in him that she thought could be the lynch pin for his turn from the dark side. Hope. The hope of seeing his mother, the hope of being out from under the thumb of the First Order, the hope of being free to live not as Kylo Ren, but as Ben Solo.

Leia had been right all along - hope was going to win this war. It was just coming from the most unexpected places.


End file.
